Niklin de Gothe
Niklin de Gothe is a Gnome Necromancer who is an agent of the Scourge. He claims he's totally awesome. He isn't. Appearance In contrast to the normally rotund frame of most gnomes, Niklin is rather scrawny in build. Short even by gnomish standards, he appears to be more skin and bones then anything else. He has small brown eyes and unruly black hair that is worn short simply because he can't manage it any other way; it will otherwise fluff up. By comparison, his beard is neatly trimmed. As a member of the Cult of the Damned, Niklin wears a set of sinister black robes that go some way to bulking out his frame and making him look bigger then he is. He also wears a hood, but that seems to be mostly so he can hide his hair. Personality While small in stature, Niklin makes up for it to a degree by having a rather large ego. He is convinced of two key facts; the first is that he is awesome, the second is that everyone should know how awesome he is. He spends a lot of his time pointing out the former in the vain hope that people will concede to the latter. When this doesn't work - and it rarely does - he is prone to temper tantrums and explosive outbursts. Of course, he rarely does this when there is someone higher-ranking around. Or someone who could get away with just killing him and turning imp into a (very small) Ghoul. While he has a fair degree of magical and especially necromantic knowledge, he is only a mediocre spellcaster with a rather poor grasp of tactics. He tends to overload quickly, running out of mana and leaving himself defenseless. At that point, he will tend to hide behind whatever undead is available. He does perform well in ritual casting, however; its just that he can't cope under pressure. Niklin is convinced that he is a great writer. Nothing will dissuade him from that fact. History Born and raised in Gnomeregan, Niklin aspired from a young age to achieve two great things. The first was to become a powerful mage, the second was to write the great Gnomish Novel. He worked on the two together; enrolling in a magical academy, he spent his spare time working on his book. Finally, after graduating, he completed the first draft of his Novel, which he saw as a masterpiece of dark Horror literature. Unfortunately for him, every publisher in Gnomeregan saw it otherwise; in short order, the book was rejected by every publisher he could find with an accompanying does of heavy criticism and, on occasion, mocking laughter. Embittered (and unwilling to re-write his "masterpiece"), he turned to other sources to find an outlet for his creative works. However, he found that nobody in either Ironforge or Stormwind was interested in his book. Disappointed, he travelled north to Lordaeron, hoping that he would find an outlet for his work there. Again, he was greeted with a slew of rejections (and more laughter), resulting in even more bitterness and anger. However, this time he was not without an outlet. Agents from the Cult of the Damned recruited him, seeing the potential of adding another spellcaster to their growing ranks. Lured in with empty promises of power and book deals (with potential for a Trilogy if all went well), he eagerly joined their ranks, travelling to Scholomance to learn the Dark Arts. Working alongside others, he aided in the destruction of Lordaeron and the rise of the Scourge. He was briefly assigned to Archerus, working to raise a new army of Death Knights from the ranks of the dead. During Mograine's rebellion and the fall of Archerus, he was able to flee from the citadel before the Death Knight armies returned. Today, he continues to serve the Scourge in Icecrown, working to aid the Lich King in the construction of his new army. He also is eagerly waiting to hear back from Noth and Heigan, a Northrend-based publishing company who claim to be "extremely interested" in his work. Category:Characters Category:Scourge Category:Gnome Category:Mage Category:Articles by Darthfish